According to SCORENigeria, Finidi used Osimhen to emphasise the importance of the Super Eagles’ top players remaining totally dedicated to the team. Osimhen was unavailable for the two crucial World Cup qualifiers, with an official reason that he was injured and out for four weeks. Finidi said the Napoli striker could still have managed to play these matches. The coach will go on to say that it appears that Osimhen chooses the games he plays for Nigeria and he cannot beg him to play for his country,” the source said.
The former Enyimba coach also lamented the team’s complete lack of discipline and was extremely upset with how the players arrived at training camp for the key World Cup qualifiers. He stated that many of these players have the support of some powerful NFF Board members, and that sanctioning them became increasingly difficult because he was repeatedly informed that a player “belonged” to a certain “big man”.